Georgia continued its modest employment growth in September
adding 9,100 new jobs over the month. The state’s unemployment rate stood at
5.8 percent compared to 6.9 percent, although this drop was partially due to the
number of people dropping out of the labor force.
For the 12 months ending in September, the state has grown by 84,200 nonfarm jobs, an increase of 2 percent, the same percentage increase as for the nation. This placed the state seventh in the number of net new jobs over the year trailing behind California, Florida, Texas, New York, North Carolina, and Washington.
Georgia’s slowing job growth can be seen by comparing its
most recent three-month average to the same period in 2014. Over the past three
months, the state has produce an average of 7,300 jobs each month compared to
12,400 jobs the state was producing for the same time period last year.
One surprise this month was that August’s low initial job
growth number (+2,200) was left unchanged in the monthly revisions.
Industries
September saw some severe changes in the fortunes of several
industries both up and down. For example, manufacturing, which has been a slow
growing segment, added 2,100 jobs over the month. Other industries that saw a
sizeable pick-up in employment included government (+5,200) and education and
health services (+3,200).
Professional and business services, which has been the state’s
traditional growth engine slowed markedly in September, losing 3,400 jobs,
while retail dropped another 1,900 employees.
Much of this may be attributed to seasonal adjustment
factors that may play out over the next few months, making the three-month
averages a better gauge of economic activity.
Still it remains a concern that professional and business
services that has been such a mainstay of the state and the Atlanta area’s
economy are showing such slow growth. For the three months ending in September,
business and professional services have added an average of 300 jobs each month
compared to the 3,600 job average the industry was posting at this same time in
2014.
Similarly, leisure and hospitality establishments are adding
jobs at a rate of 700 per month compared to 1,800 per month for the same three
months in 2014.
Education and health services hiring has also slowed with
the industry adding an average of 800 jobs in each of the past three months
compared to 1,700 jobs per month from July through September 2014.
Georgia 3-month
average change in jobs for selected industries, July – September 2015, in
thousands
|
Industry
|
Average
monthly change in jobs
July – September 2014
|
Average
monthly change in jobs
July – September 2015
|
|
All nonfarm industries
|
12.4
|
7.3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retail
|
0.9
|
-0.5
|
|
Information
|
-0.4
|
0.3
|
|
Professional and business services
|
3.6
|
0.3
|
|
Education and health services
|
1.7
|
0.8
|
|
Leisure and hospitality
|
1.8
|
0.7
|
|
Government
|
0.9
|
4.0
|
Unemployment
Georgia’s over-the-year
decline in unemployment rate from 6.9 percent to 5.8 percent reflects a drop in
both the number of unemployed (-55,663) as well as a pick-up in the number of
people indicating employment (+44,128). The difference is attributable to the
11,535 people who have dropped out of the labor force.
This decline in labor force flies in the face of the
general impression that the state’s population continues to grow, which should
be resulting in a growing labor force rather than declining. No good
explanation has been provided yet on why the state’s labor force continues to
decline.
